South African police evict migrant squatters from Cape Town's busy square

South African police on Sunday forcibly removed hundreds of migrants who had been squatting for four months on a busy Cape Town square popular with tourists.

The eviction ended months of tension between the city and the migrants who had camped on the pavements of Greenmarket Square since last year following a spate of xenophobic attacks.

Cape Town had sought an injunction after around 700 foreign nationals, mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi occupied the sidewalks.

A court last month granted the city the right to enforce its bylaws which prohibit sleeping, washing, defecating or cooking on the streets.

On Sunday, police vehicles surrounded the area and hundreds of officers donning masks and gloves peacefully removed the migrants. Trucks followed and tore down makeshift structures where they had camped.

Emotions ran high as migrants grabbed their belongs and walked away. Some sang in defiance and shouted "where's the rainbow nation?", "we are not animals in a zoo" and "we are not cockroaches like you call us. God will punish you for generations."